Saturday 26 March 2011

stiff little fingers - suspect device 7 inch belfast 1978




where do you start.?!? slf were, to me anyways, one of the most important punk bands ever and one of the best as well. was totally into them as a teenager, close to obsession actually, but i was obsessed by the meteors and one obsession is enough. their lp 'inflammable material' was one of the first lps i ever got and i still have that same copy and its totally falling apart from the amount of times its been played and the amount of drinking sessions its provided a soundtrack to. the versions of the two songs arent the same as the lp, theyre much rawer and a wee bit slower. superb none the less. slf were huge in glasgow (scotland?). probably the biggest punk band to leave a mark on that city. the band were always quoted as saying after belfast, glasgow was the best place in the world to play, with the maddest fans. belfast, after all isnt that far away from glasgow, and has pretty much the same religious divides ands problems. we just dont shoot each other as much. same kinda humour and attitude as well. where i came from, just outside of glasgow, had a really big religious divide, segregated schools, religious parades, ingrained bigotry and poverty. the biggest thing i remember was the future didnt look rosie at all for anyone that didnt get out. so a big punk band singing songs about being brought up in those kind of areas with 'our' kind of religious problems was fucking brilliant to say the least. i wonder how much lyrics like... ''i could be a soldier go out there to fight to save this land. be a peoples soldier, para-military gun in hand.........i wont be a soldier, i wont take no orders from no-one. stuff your fucking armys. killing isnt my idea of fun.''....ment to someone growing up in stockholm. to me (us?) it ment absolutely everything, i dont think people here would even understand what it really ment either. that my friends, is a lucky thing to be honest. anyways.......remember in the 80s when they reformed they played the glasgow 'barrowlands ballroom' it seemed every year and i believe i went to all of them. the first time i went to see them was about the third show id ever been at. maybe its because i was young and it wasnt like 'the ramones' gig id just been at, where everyone seemed to get on. this seemed like war from beginning to end. when i walked past the 'saracen head' pub just along from 'the barras', a table came crashing through the window and a big team of skinheads came flying out the door as well. a very violent set too kicked off and kinda gave me a wee glimps of what the night had install. during the show it kicked off again right where i was and i ended up getting decked off some bigger much older skinhead. then got picked up as some bigger older punk kicked the fucked out of him and got me to boot him as he was down. ''boot the cunt, fuckin boot him.!!'' what a show though. the atmosphere was electric and dangerous and even a wee bit scary ( i was 14 after all ) but brilliant. the way people didnt take shite of the skinheads and stood together and won, quite easily i may point out. was totally hooked and wanted shows like that everyday, but alas it never happend and i havent really been at a show that mental ever again or that good as well. ive been at gigs people have been killed at and ive nearly been killed myself, but none of them compare to that night. wish i could do it all again. goose bumps baby..!!
check out the video ive included from brixton park in 1979. check the way the crowd down the front all sing along, fists in the air. fucking brilliant..!!

stiff little fingers - single sleeves pics and video
DOWNLOAD

















































2 comments:

  1. yeah man. nuff said. wasted life meant the world to me- here's my old band doing it in fact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F7HpynH1_A thats me attempting to sing- the talent aint there, but the feeling is

    ReplyDelete
  2. If you're into Belfast PuNk or N. Ireland PuNk - check out my NEW web site and label at www.spitrecords.co.uk

    ReplyDelete